Council calls for federal investigation into financial crisis

January 13, 2009

Akron City Council passed a resolution Monday calling for a Congressional investigation into the current national financial crisis.

Citing the days of the New Deal and Senate investigations into the famed stock market crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression, At Large Councilman John Conti said the time has come for a similar probe into the origins of the nation’s current decline of stock and housing markets.

“The U.S. Senate Banking Committee should hold public hearings similar to the 1932 Pecora Commission, which uncovered several improprieties that took place back then,” Conti said Monday night while introducing the resolution. “Those investigations resulted in the financial regulations in place today, such as the Securities Act of 1933 and the 1934 Securities Exchange Act, which resulted in the forming of the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

Conti said he was inspired to call for investigations after a commentary in the New York Times and other groups around the country called for the same.

“Given the record foreclosures, retirees losing the value of their 401(k)s and the 2.6 million people who lost their jobs, I just think we need transparency and accountability with what has taken place,” he said. “Maybe the time has come to either come up with new standards or bring back some of the old ones to allow confidence in the market place.”